FULL TILT POKER BLOG

#149 – Calm Before the Storm

Posted by Editor | Filed under Uncategorized

The Thirty-Eighth World Series of Poker starts in just 121 hours. Because I have so much to do between now and the beginning of the Series – and, of course, so much to do during the Series – this isn’t the calm before the storm so much as The Calm Before the Storm Before the REAL Storm. But I want to use this relatively quiet time to tell you what’s coming over the next few days, and then during the next seven weeks.

My goals between now and next Friday at noon are ambitious. I want to tie up all loose ends in the blog, so I can give you all-World-Series all the time while I’m in Vegas between June 1 and July 18. So this is what I WANT to give you between now and Friday:

1. Complete The Full Tilt Guide to Buying a Car. I’ve done everything but tell you the ACTUAL adventure with Ted Forrest, the purchase of the car itself. I apologize for keeping you hanging so long. The world’s just not standing still long enough to get it finished.

2. Complete The Full Tilt Guide to Manhattan. I have at least two entries planned and partially written. One is the story of how I investigated the 1928 murder scene of gambler-mobster-fixer Arnold Rothstein and discovered so much more. The second is tentatively called “Kings of the Flow” and its an ode in admiration to the professionals who brave the roads of New York.

3. Days in Purgatory, Nights in Dallas. This is one or more entries about two recent poker trips to Dallas. Included are pros, amateurs, Andy Beal, social drinking, unhealthy eating, and at least one great moment of truth.

4. My Own Private FTOPS, or Night of the HOSErs. I never got to write this but I had a great time (though not a profitable one) with the rail during the recent FTOPS HOSE event. The players and observers on the rail and great questions and opinions and I want to share what we discussed. Some of it is shorthand for a bunch of things I’ve written or want to write.

5. World Series Preview. I have a lot of things I want to tell you before the Series starts including (a) why I’ll win, (b) Four Kings of World Series Journalism, and an uncrowned Prince, (c) my plans for playing, writing, and living during the awful specatacle to come, (d) how the “media pool” during the World Series violates the Thirteenth Amendment’s prohibition of slavery, and other prospective nightmares, and (e) “other stuff.”

Geez, it seems like a lot just writing the summaries. I swear, I’m going to work hard to get all this done before the Series starts. Because I sure as hell am not going to get much of it done DURING the World Series. Despite my hints above of dire results relating to media credentials (there’s some chance they’ll keep me out of the Amazon Room unless I’m playing), I will by hook or by crook give you a perspective on the World Series of Poker you won’t be able to get anyplace else.

Here is what I want it to include:

1. My experiences playing, which will include bracelet events, the Satellite Gulag, Second Chance Purgatory, and possibly exile to the non-Rio tournament world. If you’re not there, I want you to know what it feels like. And if you’re thinking of coming, I want you to know what to expect. And if you’re not sure, I want to tease you with what I expect will be a mixed bag of dreams and nightmares, where even the bad stuff begs to be experienced.

2. The “feel” of some of the big moments. I’m hoping to transmit this in #1 by playing in some Big Moments myself. But regardless, though I’m not going to give you play-by-play type coverage, I’d like to find a few times where I get so far inside that you feel like you’re playing yourself, or at least standing nearby watching friends in life-changing situations under intense scrutiny and gut-wrenching competition.

3. The “feel” of a lot of the small moments. The World Series of Poker is long, tiring, boring, draining, petty, expensive, unhealthy, unnerving, and a bunch of other adjectives that generally convey negative impressions. But I can’t wait to get there, can’t wait to be there, and can’t wait to describe it to you. And it feels that way to almost every one of the tens of thousands of people who spend time there. I want to share that feeling. I think I did it really well in my previous blog during last year’s Series, and I’m counting on nailing it again this year.

4. What my friends – many of the world’s most well-known poker professionals – are up to. Let’s face it. One of the reasons I’m here is because I’ll tell you about Clonie Gowen taking a love-and-sex quiz in my office. Because I can inventory the contents of Mike Matusow’s bed. Because I’ll watch Chris Ferguson in his torpid-hot hotel room playing a Gulf War computer game. Because Howard Lederer will break into an impromptu dance on the sidewalk as a means of describing Ultimate Bet’s financial statements. Because Andy Beal hinted to me that he might come out during the Series. I’m lucky enough to be a bystander in that world and I’m not selfish about giving you a peek inside.

5. History and perspective. The World Series of Poker has a rich history, which is mostly ignored by the participants, hosts, and sponsors. But not by me. In my previous blog during last year’s Series, I took on the sacred cow of the Origin of the World Series of Poker, that story about the marathon poker game between Johnny Moss and Nick the Greek in the early days of the Horseshoe. I also expect, on many occasions, to tell you who is making a run at history, what barriers are falling, and what achievements are greater than (or not as great as) most people realize.

6. My life. Being a sometimes-serious player and degenerate gambler, while at the same time being a retired lawyer and family man living 300 miles away, makes booking a hotel room for 48 nights in Las Vegas an uncomfortable prospect. I don’t expect that you’ll find the minutae of my life fascinating but (a) I’ll give it to you in small, amusing doses, and (b) tough.

7. The Full Tilt Poker Strategy Guide – Tournament Edition. Publication Day is June 1 but Warner Books rushed out the initial printing to book stores, so many of them are offering it for sale and Amazon.com is shipping it. Naturally, I’m going to hector you to buy it, but mostly by sharing with you information that I honestly think you’re looking for in this blog – what the players think of it, what the publicity and marketing are like, how the collaborators consider it, etc.

8. The World Series on Full Tilt. I’m pretty sure Full Tilt is not going to have the Big Time profile at the Series as it has in past years. But I’ll let you know about all worthwhile things Tilt onsite. And I’m also going to keep up with Full Tilt’s tournaments during the Series, hopefully to win an entry or at least make some dough to buy myself into more events.

9. Other stuff.

So let me get to it. I’ve got a lot of entries to give you before the Series and a lot of planning to do. My bosses at Full Tilt (and I have many) are generally hands-off but we’re going to talk this week (I hope) about what we can do to make the coverage extra-special. I’ll let you know what’s on tap.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Be Sociable, Share!